Flight Cancelled

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Landing the proposed merger between BAE Systems and EADS was always going to be a very difficult manoeuvre. Big defence deals are tricky enough given the political sensitivities. But this one also involved the hundreds of thousands of high quality civil aerospace jobs that Airbus supports throughout Europe.

The French and German governments had to be persuaded to loosen their grip on EADS and its Airbus subsidiary. The US Government had to be persuaded that the merged company would still be granted the favoured status enjoyed by BAE in selling to the Pentagon. British politicians had to be persuaded that